Wednesday, 19 February 2014

Liverpool Care Pathway - When The Funding Had To Stop

The socialising of death continues at a pace. We wait with bated breath to see to what extent is its outcome.They're hiring EoLC Facilitators at a Town Hall near you.This isHalton Borough Council –

The Gold Standard
Framework (GSF) is a system designed to support this process supported by GSF
Prognostic Indicator Guidance. This guidance is to assist GP’s in identifying
symptoms that would indicate a patient is approaching the last 12 months of
life. Once this identification has been made they should then be added to an
End of Life register within their GP Practice. By adding a patient to an End of
Life register, this will allow regular multi-disciplinary discussions to take
place to discuss that patients care. These discussions will ensure
clarification of patient needs, the ability to provide pro-active support and
act as a mechanism to prompt advanced care planning discussions.

The aim in Halton
is for all GP’s to adopt GSF principles in order to provide seamless care at
end of life. To facilitate this, a Cancer and End of Life forum with a
representative from each GP practice in Halton has been established to identify
any gaps and provide an opportunity to share best practice.

Advanced
Care Planning

Evidence suggests
that most people, if given the choice would prefer to die at home. If a patient
has been identified as approaching the end of life it is necessary for the team
caring for the patient to initiate discussions to establish what the patient
wishes are in relation to their care.

In order for this
to happen, we need to ensure that staff and healthcare professionals feel
comfortable in initiating these conversations with patients and families and
feel confident in explaining the decisions that can be put in place to ensure
patient wishes are adhered to.

To facilitate
this, an Advanced Care Planning Team has been established within Halton, which
includes an End of Life Care Facilitator and a Project Support Officer who are
supported by the wider Palliative care network. The role of the Advanced Care Planning
team is to provide staff within both health and social care settings with the
skills and training to be able to initiate discussions and effectively
communicate with patients and families.

To date, a number
of initiatives have taken place to improve end of life skills across health and
social care including;

• Bespoke training
with GP Practices including all staff.

• Half day training
events on end of life tools.

• Commencement
of the Six Steps training programme in 11 Care Homes.

The document makes pointed reference to the EoLC Strategy, 2008.
It recognises that it is "inherently difficult" to identify when a
patient is approaching end of life and recommends taking guidance from the GSF
Prognostic Indicator and working in partnership with Macmillan. It also
recommends the infamousSix Steps.

Care minister Norman Lamb has given his personal backing to free end-of-life social care, but said he could not yet commit the government to the measure.

Speaking in a debate on the Care Bill last Thursday, Lamb said although he was “not in a position to commit the government” to free end-of-life social care, he said that “I want us to do this” and was “determined that we achieve that objective”. He added that as the responsible minister he had “some degree of influence over decision-making”.

He made the comments in response to an amendment from Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston proposing that terminally-ill people be exempted from social care charges to allow them to die in their preferred place.

Lamb added that NHS England wanted to expand the use of electronic palliative care co-ordination systems (EPACs)—which allow people to register their end of life wishes—to increase national coverage form 30% to 70% by 2015. He said in places where EPACs were established, 80% of people died in the place of their choice. Wollaston said she was “absolutely delighted with the minister’s assurance” on free end-of-life social care and would not press the issue to a vote.

Backing from charity

Macmillan Cancer Support, which has long campaigned for free end-of-life social care, welcomed Lamb’s comments.

“We are very encouraged by Norman Lamb’s comments during last week’s Care Bill debate and his assurance that he’s determined to introduce free social care at the end of life,” said Gus Baldwin, head of public affairs at Macmillan Cancer Support.

“We look forward to discussing this further with the minister with the aim of making quick progress as soon as the Palliative Care Funding Review pilots looking at this issue have ended in March.”

Durham County Council, Children and Adults Services in partnership with McMillan Cancer SupportTemporary for 2 yearsA great opportunity has arisen for a short term project worker to undertake a role in leading Adult Social Care’s development of a new and exciting pathway for supporting people on the End of Life pathway.The project is to scope the current inter-agency network and develop a joined up pathway for people who need both health and social care support. It will also involve the development and rollout of training to Adult Social Care staff.

The post holder will work alongside Adult Social Care Practice Development and Support Team in addition to accessing advice, and expertise from the McMillan Cancer Support service. The post holder will be expected to work with partners at a strategic and operational level and the project will be reliant of the candidate’s experience of this type of work to succeed.The successful applicant for this post will be required to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service Enhanced Disclosure.Required Qualifications:Degree or Diploma in Social Work and registered with HCPC.Evidence of relevant and recent Continuous Professional Development (CPD).Interviews will be held on Tuesday 11/03/2014 (p.m.)For further information please contact: Geraldine Waugh, Operations Manager (OP/PDSI) on 03000 268253. E-mailGeraldine.waugh@durham.gov.ukApply on-line via the jobs portal or for further assistance contact the HR Resourcing Team on telephone no. 0191 383 3081 (24 hour answer-phone) or email hrresourcing@durham.gov.uk

They're holding interviews on Tuesday 11th March, my mum's birthday. Happy birthday, mum! They're taking the Strategy out into the community to the punters; we are only halfway there and those care expectations have to be downsized.

They're signing up Local Government Facilitators to co-ordinate borough-wide EoLC programmes. Applicants might do well to read up on the above documents and the wealth of reference work put out by NCPC/Dying Matters. This would stand them in good stead to get the job offers.The successful applicant will demonstrate...Will they offer incentive payments and bonuses in recognition for innovative EoLC?This will save the ratepayers a bomb. Both local and national exchequers are going to breathe a long sigh of relief. There are going to be consequences, of course. The demographics are going to take a plunge as these measures begin to bite. We are only "halfway there", as we have been reminded.Excess deaths...This is the new Front Line. They are
recruiting now for Social Service.Your NHS needs you to secure affordable
and sustainable healthcare - now and for future generations.

These policies really do have consequences.

This is “Active Killing”. It cannot be said otherwise than that. And this
is policy.

It’s time for us to wise up. And it’s time for them to own up.Further reading -

About Me

I am distraught and I despair that these events have befallen this family. The picture is of me and my lovely mum, murdered on the NHS (National-socialist Health Service). Murdered. Is that too strong a word? Her life was taken without her permission. By omission and by commission, actions taken and not taken conspired to end her life. She was kept in ignorance of what was proceeding before her very eyes, as were we. Was she, then, not murdered?